QPR’s Barton hit with further eight-game suspension

Reuters, LONDON

Queens Park Rangers midfielder Joey Barton will serve a 12-game ban after he was suspended for a further eight matches on Wednesday, having been found guilty of violent conduct, the FA said in a statement.

He was also fined ￡5,000 (US$117,900).

Barton was sent off for elbowing Manchester City’s Carlos Tevez and then kicking Sergio Aguero in QPR’s final Premier League game of the season on May 13.

Barton accepted the charge of violent conduct against Aguero, but denied the same charge against City defender Vincent Kompany, whom he appeared to try to head-butt before being escorted off the pitch.

An Independent Regulatory Commission found Barton guilty of both charges and he will serve the eight-game ban consecutively with the four-match suspension he received for the sending-off, the FA said in a statement on their Web site.

“Following Barton’s dismissal in the 54th minute of the match, there followed two incidents involving Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero and Vincent Kompany. As Barton had already been dismissed, both of these incidents fell outside the jurisdiction of the referee. Barton accepted the charge of violent conduct against Aguero, but denied the second breach of violent conduct against Kompany. The independent regulatory commission, however, found this second charge proved,” the statement said.

Barton, 29, who has a long history of trouble on and off the field, had said on Twitter on the day of his sending-off that he had not lost his head, but that a teammate “suggested I should try to take one of theirs with me.”

He later expressed remorse, but said he had been hard done by.

QPR lost the game against City, but remained in the Premier League by one point.

In May 2008, Barton was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment for common assault and affray during an incident in Liverpool.